US, UK watching two different wars

[JackNewtown]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/julian_borger/2006/08/post_279.html

First 4 paragraphs:

The US and European media have always covered the Middle East from different perspectives, but flying back to Washington from a stay in London at the height of the Lebanese conflict made it clear to me how wide the gulf has become. Britons and Americans are watching two different wars.

The overwhelming emphasis of television and press coverage in the UK was the civilian casualties in Lebanon. Day after day, those were the "splash" stories. The smaller number of civilian casualties from Hizbullah rockets in northern Israel was also covered but rarely made the top headlines or front pages.

Back in DC, watching Lebanon through American camera lenses, the centre of the action seemed to be Haifa. CNN, for example, sent two of its top anchors, Miles O'Brien and Wolf Blitzer, to the Israeli port city. Much of the morning news was devoted to showing O'Brien scurrying in and out of shelters when the air raid sirens sounded. Another correspondent was sent on patrol with a Haifa ambulance crew to look for casualties. On the morning I was watching, the crew only came across a man who had a fatal heart attack as a result of the rockets. The paramedics' attempts to save him were shown.

This emphasis on Israeli casualties relative to Lebanese was taken to its breathtaking extreme by Charles Krauthammer, a conservative columnist on the Washington Post, who described the Hizbullah rocket attacks as "perhaps the most blatant terror campaign from the air since the London blitz."

[bloom]

1. This was a major part of Democracy Now! today

"...We continue our coverage of the situation in the Middle East by examining how the U.S. press has been reporting on Lebanon, Israel and Gaza. Some have suggested that America is watching a different war than much of the world. The British journalist Julian Borger came to that conclusion after watching the news in Washington and London.

The British press, he said, overwhelmingly emphasized the civilian casualties in Lebanon. Meanwhile the U.S. media has focused on the situation in Israeli cities like Haifa. Meanwhile some journalists from the Middle East are now refusing to work with American news outlets.

Earlier this week, two producers working for Fox News in Amman Jordan resigned in protest. In their resignation letter, Serene Sabbagh and Jomana Karadsheh wrote "We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that."

They went on to write “Not only are you an instrument of the Bush White House, and Israeli propaganda, you are war mongers with no sense of decency, nor professionalism.”

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/03/1359222

Also:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=226619&mesg_id=226619

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I think this is something that people need to understand. The US is being isolated from the rest of the world - because of the intense propaganda that takes place here.

It may be part of keeping the US supporting Israel - it also ends up putting at odds at the rest of the world.

[bloom]

2. .

[breakaleg]

3. This piece makes it seem like, while the truth is being filtered, it's

still there, if you want to look for it.

The implication being, if you care enough, you'll look at various sources to seek out the truth. Valid point. But then again, why is it that our news sources have the right to tell us how we should feel.

[JackNewtown]

4. 99% of the public won't do that, though

The media's propaganda is shameful. It should arm the people with the facts and allow them to make the decisions, not distort the "news" and decide for the public. :mad: Faux is the worst offender but it is hardly the only one. :(

[babylonsister]

5. I was sitting here feeling fat, dumb and happy because I knew

all this, have read about and recognize the bias, etc. But that Krauthammer quote blew me away; guess I'm not so informed.